What Is Prostate Cancer?

symptoms

In order to treat prostate cancer, early detection is important (preferably before stage B). This is why paying attention to the messages your body sends you is crucial. A doctor cannot treat you if you don't inform him of your symptoms. If you've noticed the following warning signs, consult your doctor immediately:

Delayed or slow start of urinary stream (urinary hesitancy)

Pain with urination

Urinary dribbling

Urinary retention

Lower back pain

Pain with ejaculation

Pain with bowel movement

Excessive urination during the night

Excessive sweating

Frequent and urgent urination

Abnormal urine color

Weight loss

Bone pain

Abdominal pain

Lethargy

treatment options

Once a positive diagnosis is identified, the patient and doctor mutually decide on treatment. Patients should be well informed of the different treatments available because the final decision will have an effect on their quality of life. The decision should be considered very carefully and should include their partners' input, because they will ultimately be affected by the chosen course of action as well. The following list comprises a summary of different treatment possibilities:

1. Watchful Waiting: This is not actually a medical treatment. This option is best suited for older men with a ten-year life expectancy or less and whose tumor has not spread beyond the prostate. The reason for waiting is that the cancer is growing slowly and the men will probably die from natural causes before the tumor spreads. Other radical treatments, such as surgery, might be more dangerous than simply waiting.

2. Radical Prostatectomy (RP): A treatment where the prostate is completely removed. If performed when cancer is confined to the gland, the patient should be cured since, in theory, it removes all the cancer. RP is a serious operation that requires weeks of recuperation. This treatment can have lasting side effects, including impotence and incontinence. The FDA, however, recently approved a device called the CaverMap, which aids surgeons in locating nerve bundles, to help avoid severing nerves related to continence and erections when removing the prostate.

There are two major surgical methods used for removing the prostate gland. The first one — the "perineal" method — is used primarily when the prostate cancer is limited to the prostate gland and has not spread. An incision is made in the perineum (see picture on the right). The second surgical method involves making an incision in the abdomen, just below the umbilicus, which extends downward to the pubic bone (see illustration on the left). This method is generally used for a more advanced cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes of the pelvis.

3. Radiation: An option that is less traumatic than RP and appears to have similar results when used in the early stages. Radiation treatment, however, also has side effects. Half the patients treated have reported various types of impotence. The treatment is applied through an external beam that directs the radiation dose directly within the prostate to kill cancer cells. 4. Cryotherapy: An experimental treatment with unknown long-term effectiveness due to inadequate data. The treatment involves killing the tumor's cells by freezing them. Early results are very encouraging.

5. Hormonal therapy: Used in all phases of prostate cancer treatment. It helps block production or action of male hormones that have been shown to fuel prostate cancer. The most widely used and approved hormone blockers are Lupron, Casodex, Eulexin, Nilandron, and Zoladex. In some situations, the testicles are removed because they produce male hormones.

It is recommended that patients commit to further research before making their final decision. The treatments mentioned above are in a summarized format. More information is available at your family doctor's office.